Secrets in Court
by urbanamore
Summary: Fic based somewhere in Series One, loosely Merlin/OC with a lot of Arthur. Rated K  for vague plot stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Walking through the streets Merlin smiled to himself. He felt more at home here than he had anywhere so far. It was not that he disliked living at home; he loved his mother and his little village had been more than comforting to him, but he needed to find his destiny, he needed to go into the bigger world and make something of his self. Not that becoming a 'manservant' to Prince Arthur would get that.

But either way, at least he knew what he was capable of now, and he had a book to learn from. He read it every night before he went to bed, soaking up the information and muttering spells under his breath, learning it all in the comfort of his own room.

At the present moment in time he was headed to where Prince Arthur was waiting with weapons and armour for another practice round to prepare him for his battle later.

The thing that annoyed Merlin was that he could win so hilariously easily if he was just allowed to use magic, but of course that had been forbidden in Camelot, and he had seen the consequences of what happened to those who used it almost as soon as he entered the city.

His feet trailed on the floor as he got nearer to his destination; he really didn't fancy another thrashing today, which was no doubt what he would end up with. Each time they had to practice he received a ringing headache and a handful of bruises for his hard work. But, as Arthur said, 'at least he was brave'. He pulled a face.

"Ah, Merlin, you're here," Arthur said in an upbeat tone, grinning and chucking the armour and a sword to him, which he caught half of and which the other half of crashed immediately to the floor, "Pick it up then, chop chop."

Merlin mimicked the Prince, rolling his eyes and shoving it on. This wasn't really his scene; Arthur was indeed the strong, muscley fighting man, and he was the weaker, more ordinary one, as Gwen had said. Well, if you discounted for his magic, that was. With that he could quite easily take down any one of knights in Camelot, though of course would find it harder to bear on his mind. He might be able to kill, or seriously injure or maim, but that didn't mean he would want to. But luckily, he probably wouldn't have to either.

Arthur pulled him up off of the ground and immediately started to joust with him, knocking him with his sword once, twice, three times before going for the head as per usual. But as this had become expected by Merlin, although he might not be the strongest boy alive, like Arthur had said, he was brave, and he was fast and plucky too. He darted his sword quickly above his head to block the attack and the connecting of harsh sword against sword made a metallic ring echo around the grassy patch they fought on.

Merlin brought the weight of the sword down in the general direction of the Prince, but he dodged it easily as Merlin was clumsy with weapons, having not had much practice with them, and not being the strongest of boys. He went for another three swings and instead caught Merlin's head side on, causing him to wobble.

"Ow." He moaned, throwing the weight of the sword in the general direction of Arthur's waist and missing by a few feet.

"Oh, quit moaning and start practicing." Arthur replied, easily swinging his blade one handed and aiming a perfect hit at Merlin's shoulder.

"Okay, definitely ow!" he said, opening his visor and pulling a face at Arthur.

"Look, if you don't practice, you're never going to get better and so neither will I," he poked Merlin in the ribs with the end of the sword, "Because to be honest with you Merlin, you're not the most challenging partner I've ever faced."

"I'm better with a mace." He grinned, throwing the sword without much force at the Prince's feet who merely hopped back a couple of metres to avoid the 'attack'.

"Oh, give up, go and do some stuff Gaius has for you to do, or whatever you do in that place. I'll call for you when I need you later." Arthur said, rolling his eyes and walking away.

Merlin shed his armour and walked back through the streets of Camelot, back towards his chamber to no doubt read some more of his precious book.


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin sat down on his bed and quickly removed the book from where it was concealed under the mattress. He read for hours, not being disturbed by Gaius or Arthur or any other mix of people for once, and practiced certain spells, sending a broom flying back and forth across the room, and the bed re making itself each time he messed it up. He didn't notice the pair of eyes watching him from his window, for he never was as observant as Gaius told him to be.

At dusk was settling Merlin was called to see to Arthur before the dinner ceremony, as many of the guests for the tournament had arrived earlier that day, and so a large banquet was to be laid on in aid of this.

"Merlin, I need to come across as a threat to the others. Red or blue?" Prince Arthur announced as he entered through the door.

Merlin raised an eyebrow, "You really called me in here to ask which colour robes you should wear?"

"Well yes, I mean, yes." he stuttered, maintaining a straight face.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Merlin suppressed a grin.

"I already told you, I don't get nervous." Arthur snapped back, agitated.

"Sorry, sorry," His attempt to stop his eyebrows rising failed and he turned away quickly, stifling laughter, "Red."

"I cannot be late to the banquet. I need you to wash and polish my armour, sharpen my sword and prepare my clothes for tomorrow."

He disappeared at once through the door, and Merlin bundled up everything that needed sorting, taking it into his room and setting it to work on itself before he crept quietly out into the silent courtyard.

He went to peer through the window of the banquet hall, but nothing of interest was happening so instead he went to sit down, leaning against the stocks. Of course he could return to his room and read some more, but he hadn't been outside of his own free will in such a long time, and it felt good to just sit in the still, dark night, moving pebbles with his thoughts.

He was suddenly startled out of his pebble moving trance when a person, somewhere between the age of a girl and woman walked silently by. She looked as if she was trying hard not to be notice, for she had her hood up and was looking from side to side. The only way Merlin knew that this was a girl was from the hair hanging down from her top.

She looked right and suddenly spotted him, causing her to quicken her pace.

"Stop!" he called after her, but she had already disappeared into the shadows.

He wondered who she was, and what she was doing tiptoeing around in the dark. He stood up, already fed up with the outside and retreated to his room, letting the cleaned and sharpened items drop to the floor where he picked them up and took them back to Prince Arthur's chamber, laying them out along with his clothes for the next day.

Merlin returned once again, taking out the book of spells and glancing quickly at it, before giving up and tucking it away, his eyes drifting shut as he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin rose early in the morning, having been instructed to go and meet in front of the King with Prince Arthur to be talked to about the jousting tournament. To Merlin it seemed that there were too many tournaments, as the sword tournament had just passed and his headaches and scratches from then had not had enough time to recover before the preparations for this one were upon them.

As he arrived he took his place to the right of Arthur, several maids and servants aligned along the room.

"Arthur. We have many other contenders from different cities. They know you are in throne to be King, so it is mandatory that you show them what you are capable of, for the safety of Camelot itself." King Uther said, sat upon his throne and looking seriously at his son.

Arthur gave a quick nod and then headed to his chamber where Merlin quickly dressed him in his armour and armed him with his sword, and the two of them walked towards the arena, Merlin waiting at the edge eagerly, ready to cheer on his 'master'.

After five or so minutes a girl appeared at his side, also seemingly watching the men who were gearing up to fight. She had long, wavy hair which was not ginger, but startlingly red, which reached to just about the top of her rib cage. She was dressed in simple clothes, which suggested to Merlin that she was a servant of some kind, and she had an interesting face, if not a pretty one. She was scattered with freckles and had large, green eyes that looked at him, unimpressed.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

Merlin realised he was staring at the girl and his eyes widened as he shook his head ferociously from side to side.

"No, I was just, I mean I'm just...hi, Merlin." He stuck out his hand and she shook it, suppressing th urge to laugh at his stuttering.

"Elzedar." She replied.

"And you're with...?"

"I am Knight Everdale's ladyservant." She told him.

"Ladyservant? You're a servant to a knight?" Merlin asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusement.

"Yes." she glared at him as if this were something which was stupid to be questioned.

"It's just, well, you're female." Merlin said.

"Well done on stating the obvious." she clapped her hands together sarcastically.

Merlin nodded, looking impressed, but before he could comment any further on the matter the King started to make an announcement and Elzedar elbowed Merlin, nodding towards him.

"Ladies and gentleman, it is my greatest honour to welcome you to the jousting tournament. I do not wish the name to be misleading, as the national jousting festival is two months away, and this involves steeds, but today the knights in question will be battling with just their swords and shields," the King took a break while the audience applauded and then continued, "and so without further ado, may the first joust commence!"

And so the first two knights took up their places, and pointed their swords at each other, and swung them around until one of them knocked the other down, and the loser got removed from the contest.

At first Merlin and Elzedar watched with gripping interest, but as the jousting continued and the fights got more and more repetitive, they got bored, and finally Elzedar slumped down against the wall, rolling her eyes.

"Okay there?" Merlin glanced down at her, grinning.

"It doesn't half go on, does it? At least it's in your own bloody city, I have to travel with that pillock everywhere." She sighed, looking unimpressed.

Merlin sat opposite her, crossing his legs, "Well if you don't like him, then why do you work for him?"

"Because what else am I going to do? Don't think I haven't tried to get other jobs, by god I have, but nobody wants a _girl_ to do things for them, unless they're a soppy maiden who needs their top tightening, or a guy who wants to try and get his way with her," As she said this she made a deliberate glance towards Knight Everglade, "And to be completely honest with you, I'd rather have some sleazy knight trying and failing to get their way with me while I do some actual work than lacing up a pinafore and picking out ribbons every day."

Merlin smiled at this, contemplating it for a moment. He may have been a scrawny male, but he was male all the same. It had never really occurred to him that females might want to do the same kind of jobs, find interest in weapons and armour instead of dresses and horses.

Of course, this was very prejudice of him, but then was the case of all men. He was a lot less so than most, and so talked to Elzedar about why she had chosen to do so.

"I just don't see why I shouldn't get my share of the fun just because I'm a girl." She said, picking at an unravelling thread in her dress.

"A perfectly fair statement." Merlin agreed, smiling at her.

"So you work in Camelot, for the Prince," she noted, looking vaguely impressed, "How did that happen?"

"Oh, well, I mean, I was just a little servant boy, and then I kind of saved his life, so I suppose I got promoted." Merlin shrugged.

"You suppose you got promoted? Very full of yourself, aren't you?" Elzedar laughed, poking him with her foot.

"And you? How did you bag your job as pillock servant?" Merlin asked, grinning.

She returned the grin, still laughing, "Oh, well my home village was near the town where Everglade is from. He was passing through one day with his men, and I was only about sixteen, but I was handy with a knife, and he saw me skewer one right through a rabbit. Just catching tea, but he was amazed that I could have 'such skill'." She rolled her eyes, grimacing.

"Would you prefer to live somewhere like Camelot then?" Merlin asked.

"Of course! That's been my dream, Camelot, ever since my father told me about it when I was a child. He would tell of what it was like, the amazing city."

He hesitated for a moment, "Where is your father now?"

"He was killed." Elzedar said abruptly, and Merlin knew that even if he asked, he wouldn't get an answer as to why.

Suddenly he noticed Arthur walk into the arena and shuffled left so that he could see the joust, still sat down.

Arthur took out his sword and the two opponents weighed each other up, circling each other twice before they started to fling their swords at each other, the metal bouncing off of shields and armour plates. His opponent was not that strong, but could use a shield well. As Arthur lunged for him, he blocked it again and again until a particularly hard one sent him onto his back. The crowd cheered and Merlin whispered 'yes' to himself, punching the air.

Elzedar snorted, but when Merlin turned to her she merely muttered, "Nothing, nothing."

As Prince Arthur appeared, he looked down at Merlin, "What on earth are you doing on the floor? Get up, you fool."

Merlin scrambled to his feet, "Sorry."

Behind him Elzedar and risen, oblivious to both of them as she did so. She bowed slightly to Arthur and muttered, "Sir."

As the Prince headed off towards the castle to take a breather, Merlin followed, but before leaving turned around and shouted to the girl, "Bye Elzedar!"

"Call me Elze!" she shouted back, smiling to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Arthur, would you ever employ a woman to work as your servant?" Merlin asked as they walked back towards the castle.

Arthur looked at him, an eyebrow raised, "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"No! No, I was just asking, purely out of interest." Merlin said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well no, because it's a male job, isn't it? I mean a woman could clean my armour and sharpen my swords and prepare food and clothes, but when it comes to practicing for jousts and festivals and competitions, then you would be stuck, wouldn't you?"

The two of them walked through the door and Arthur sat down on his bed, laying his helmet beside him and stretching his arms. Merlin took the helmet from him and started to polish it, purely for something to do.

"But what if they were a really good female? One that could do all of those things, fighting and helping you prepare?" he persisted.

"Well, then I'd know that there was a man who was perfectly able of doing the job two times better," Arthur said, sighing, "Look, are you going somewhere with this?"

"I..." Merlin paused, "No, I'm not."

"Well then, come back and fetch me when lunch is ready, for I need a rest." The Prince said, lying down and closing his eyes.

"Of course." Merlin made a small bow and left the room.

His own thoughts were buzzing around his head. When Arthur had asked him if he was going somewhere with it, he had come up short, because he did not know. It wasn't like he was going to get her a job or anything; it was purely just him being interested in why the knights seemed to prefer males over females. He supposed it was really a good thing that Arthur hadn't said that he would have a female servant for some sleazy reason, for that would have left Merlin's opinion for him dipping a lot.

Instead, although he might not personally take that view, he was glad that the Prince's views matched up with most others, and was noble and normal more than repulsive. He desperately wanted to help this girl that he hardly knew, because he knew what a life saver Camelot had been for himself, and how much he loved the place, and really, although he might not liked to admit it, how much he loved his job.

And if there was someone in a job they hated, in a place they hated, working for someone they hated, then he wanted to help them.

He sat on the step outside and rested his head on his hands, looking around slowly. He pushed and apple around the stony ground with his mind, racking his brains. The apple bobbed up and down, looking as if it were a feather caught in a wind gust. Suddenly a figure appeared and he sent it crashing to the ground where it exploded slightly, leaving apple smush on the gravelly floor.

Elze raised an eyebrow, looking at the apple for a second before looking at Merlin and nodding, "Hi."

"Hey there." He smiled, rubbing his head.

"You look stressed, or over worked, or both." She told him, sitting down beside him.

"That's because I am." He laughed.

"So you have a pretty great life here." She said, a vague smile on her face.

"Yeah, I d-," he cut off mid sentence, his face lighting up, "I HAVE IT. I KNOW WHAT TO DO. I'LL BE BACK LATER."

Merlin ran off at once, leaving Elze sat on the step by herself. He practically ran to Gaius' quarters and the old man jumped back, "Merlin, you gave me a fright!"

"Sorry, sorry, I am sorry, but I just had the best idea." He said, a grin plastered onto his face.

"And what would this be, Merlin?" he asked, looking intently at the boy.

"Well, I was speaking to this girl," Merlin ploughed on before the man could say anything, although his eyebrows were already raised, "And she works for this knight called Everglade, but she hates it, and her only wish is to live in Camelot, but she couldn't stand to work for a woman and be a maid, and seeing as I've just left you and you need someone..." Merlin trailed off, hoping that Gaius could see where he was going with this.

"And so you think she would be a useful asset to me." Gaius finished, looking at Merlin.

"Exactly. She seems clever, she seems brave, she's definitely strong, she could handle it." Merlin told him, nodding fiercely.

"I'm sure she could, Merlin. But this may only come about if our dear Prince Arthur beats Knight Everglade in the joust. If he does not it would be not only uncommonly but offensive to suggest such a thing. Yet if Arthur _does_ beat his opponent, then a suggestion may be made, and the girl may be able to transfer here," and before Merlin could say anything he added, "If she wishes."

"Oh, Gaius, I..." Merlin approached the old man and took his head in his hands, kissing him on the forehead, "Thank you!"

He looked shocked, but shook his head lightly as Merlin disappeared through the door and set to get back to his work at once.


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin fetched Arthur from his chamber and they ate lunch, the servants this time able to join their 'masters' for this. This was made able due to the fact that already seven or eight opponents had been picked off, and so therefore no longer qualified to be able to eat with the rest. It was a rare occurrence for the servants, and though they received far less substantial meals to the rest, they were more than happy for their share.

Merlin therefore sat to the right of Arthur and Elze to the right of Everglade almost opposite. The King was absent, off attending to some duty, and so the head of the table was empty. Polite conversation was made between the knights, and the servants tended to keep quiet unless spoken to.

Elzedar was the only female at the table, and this was noticed by several of the knights who made glanced towards her. One knight in particular looked at her in a way that made the skin crawl, and so Merlin 'accidentally' knocked the little container of salt into his food with his mind.

The knight was completely perplexed, searching for what had caused the sturdy pot to collapse, but he was focused on something else and so the tension drained from Merlin's body.

After the lunch was over, the servants immediately got up to leave, allowing the rivals' time to discuss things amongst themselves.

Merlin walked outside and caught Elze by the shoulder, spinning her around to face him, "Look, I've had the most ingenious idea. Follow me?"

She shrugged and did as he said, following him across the courtyard and down the street, along to a large patch of grass behind the castle where Arthur and Merlin had practiced sword training the day before.

"Okay, so I went and spoke to my friend Gaius, who's a- who's a herbal healer. He has potions and remedies and everything, and he's who I used to work for before I got promoted," she looked at him but he continued, ploughing on, "So, he said that if Arthur wins the joust, then if you wanted, you could come and work here as his servant, helping with remedies and fetching ingredients and so forth. I know you said you like doing hard work, but it's nowhere near as bad as being a maid, and it's the closest you'll get to hard work around here, starting off anyway."

Elzedar stared at Merlin for almost two whole minutes before launching herself onto him, pulling him into a great hug.

"That would be _amazing_, Merlin. But how good is Arthur a jouster? Because Everglade is pretty fierce." She said; worry already forming in her voice.

"We'll be fine. He'll do well." Merlin told her, thinking already how great it would be to have another friend in Camelot, another reason to love the place.

"Either way, I could show you around later if you would like?" Merlin asked, smiling.

"Sounds great." She grinned at him, squeezing his shoulder as she headed off to see what Everglade needed for the afternoon.

Merlin walked back to go and watch the rest of that afternoons jousting, and saw Arthur take out three men. Tomorrow there would be ten men left, and then, the day after, the final two would fight. He was pretty sure it would be between Prince Arthur and someone, as however bad a practice partner he was, he knew Arthur was a good fighter and had been known to win most of the festivals and contests, especially the ones held in Camelot.

That night another banquet was held, this time in the smaller banquet hall as to accommodate just the knights. Merlin went to visit Gaius and see if anything needed doing, but the man was just seeing to a lady who had been injured by a horse, and nothing particularly needed doing.

He had been reading his book a lot recently, and so did not feel the need to sit in his room for yet another night, nose in the book.

Instead, he decided to go for a walk outside of Camelot, as he had not been outside the walls since he had first entered the kingdom.

He headed down a woody path, trees flanking him on either side. He stirred the leaves with his feet, not walking particularly fast, but not needing to. There were birds hooting in the trees, and the leaves were just starting to fall from the trees. It was still considerably light out, as it was still classed as summer, so the nights were long and light and Merlin walked comfortably through the forest with just his top on, no need of warmer attire.

He eventually reached a clearing that looked out across the valley and sat down on a large boulder to contemplate things. He realised that he should have told someone that he was leaving Camelot, in case Arthur needed anything and he wasn't there. Either way, the guards had seen him leave, so it was not as if he were missing.

As he looked out, he thought about his mother back home. He rarely thought about her, for fear of getting homesick, not that there was much to get homesick about. It was just her, and a couple of people from the village really, but apart from that it was mostly so uneventful in his little village that there was nothing of importance enough to miss.

Suddenly a shuffling came from behind him and he turned around, looking for what had caused the noise. He could not spot anything so turned back around, squinting as the glaring sunset burst through the clouds.

Merlin appreciated the simple things in life, like sunsets and views and music, but he knew that he wouldn't have had nearly as much fun if he had been born without his powers. The whole point of his life was his magic; without it he would just be like any other person, but worse, because he wasn't handsome or rich or strong or even particularly smart. He was just Merlin.

He almost jumped out of his skin as something landed on him.


	6. Chapter 6

"What the...?" Merlin span around, eyes wide, looking petrified.

"It's only me," Elze panted, bursting into laughter, "I tripped. Sorry."

"You only...what...you scared the life out of me!" he said, exasperated.

"Evidently," he laughed, "Go on, scooch over then, lemme have a seat."

He squinted at her before rolling his eyes and grinning, "Know how to make an entrance, don't you. Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

"Oh, well, I saw you leave, but then I thought I saw something else." She said, only just regaining her breath.

"Like what?" Merlin questioned.

"Like some kind of animal. Not a goat or anything, like a wild dog. I was up near the towers and I saw you disappear into the forest and then saw this wild dog thing go after you, so I sprinted down to see if you had been mauled to death."

"Which I had, obviously." He laughed, consciously patting his hair down.

She nudged him, "No, but seriously, I was sure I saw something. I think it might be out here."

Merlin glanced around, his senses pricking up as he became more aware of everything else around him. He thought of the noise he had heard earlier and wondered if that could be this aforementioned 'wild dog', or if it was something else completely. He also wondered if there was only one of these wild dogs, or if the wood was crawling with them. The more he thought about it, the more he realised it had been a stupid idea to come out here without telling at least Arthur or Gaius where he was going.

And then it dawned on him, "Wait, so you ran all the way from the tower out here just to see if I was okay?" he asked, his eyebrows raising as a grin crept onto his face.

"Well, yes, I mean, you could have been dead." Elze stuttered, pulling a face at him as he chuckled.

"But I'm not." He grinned.

"But you're not." She repeated, hitting him on the arm.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing his arm.

"I didn't even hit you that hard! Wow, you _are_ weak." She muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing..."

The two of them sat for a while, looking out across the valley as the sun set and not talking. It wasn't an awkward silence, it didn't hand in the air, it was more comfortable, chosen rather than forced, as they both thought their own thoughts.

"You shouldn't have such a low opinion of yourself." Elze said suddenly, turning to Merlin.

"Pardon?"

"I heard you," she said, carrying on cautiously, "You muttered to yourself just before I arrived, you said 'I'm not handsome or rich or strong or even particularly smart. I'm just Merlin.' You might not be rich, and you definitely proved you're not strong," she laughed, nudging him with her elbow to prove a point, "But you're smart. I've heard you talking to Gaius, you can't deny yourself that," she then looked at her feet and muttered more quietly, "And you are rather handsome."

He spluttered, choking on air, "Sorry, what?"

"I said," she repeated louder, "You are rather handsome."

He looked at her wide eyed, a smile appearing on his lips, "You actually think that?"

"See! Such a low opinion! And anyway, _Merlin_," she put emphasis on his name, "I think you should be happier I called you smart."

"Oh, oh yeah, thanks for that too," He said as an afterthought, and suddenly, not realising how much he had said aloud, asked, "Did you hear anything else?"

"No, why?" she replied inquisitively.

"Oh, no reason..." he muttered, looking at his feet.

"But listen to me, you're not just Merlin. You're so much more than that. From what I hear you saved the King's son, you have been a great asset to Gaius, you're one of the best manservant's Prince Arthur has ever had and," she grinned, "Your hair looks great like that."

He patted it self consciously but grinned, "Thanks. But you...I mean...you really think that?"

"Yes, of course I do Merlin! I don't see why you have such a low opinion of yourself."

"Because, I'm just a boy from a little village..."

She raised her eyebrows, "Really," it was more of just a word than a question, "And so how do I know all of this then? Am I psychic? That would be totally cool, but no. Because people think so much of you, they've told me. They've told Everglade, who's told me. I know that you saved the King's son, because someone in the village came up to me after I talked to you, and said 'you know that Merlin? He saved Prince Arthur, he's amazing'. When I briefly spoke to Gaius, he told me how much he missed having you around full time. Everglade told me how Arthur had mentioned to him that he had never had a better manservant, and that he was jealous. So no, you're not just an everyday village boy," she looked at him, straight into his eyes, "And how do you think that made me feel?"

Merlin stared ahead for a minute, not able to take in everything that Elze had just said. People had talked about him, saying how _good_ he was at things. Gaius may have thought he was an amazing asset because of his magic, but neither of the others knew about that, and they still thought he was worthwhile...it was amazing the things you could find out from talking to other people.

"I..." he looked at the girl, sat on the rock, facing away from him slightly, "I don't know what to say."

She turned back to face him. It was now getting dark; the sun had almost set and the moon could be seen, as could the stars which were coming out one by one. The dark had brought with it the cold, which although there was no breeze still clung to both Elze and Merlin like an unwanted friend which couldn't be gotten away from easily.

"You don't have to say anything." She said, smiling slightly.

Merlin suddenly reached forwards and quickly placed his lips on Elze's, only for a second, before abruptly moving backwards and looking alarmed at himself.

"Sorry, I...don't know why I did that." He muttered, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"That's okay, I didn't mind. I quite...liked it actually," she grinned at him before standing up and quickly moving the subject on, "It's getting chilly and rather dark, and if there are wild dogs in the wood then we don't really want to be hanging around."

"I...no...no, let's go." He smiled at her, still bashful, as he stood up.

The two of them walked slowly back through the woods towards Camelot, talking about the villages they had grown up in. Merlin told Elze all about his mother and what his village was like, obviously leaving out anything magic related, and Elze told Merlin of the village near the town of Melheart, where she had been taken to at the age of sixteen to work for Everglade.

A cold wind blew through the trees and Elze shivered, pulling her arms around herself for she neither was wearing anything warm, still in just her dress. Merlin tentively put an arm around her and then continued walking.

Suddenly something rustled to the right of them and they stopped, dead still, looking at the place where the noise had come from. They could hardly see their way through the forest anymore as it was dark, and Merlin hoped that they were almost out.

"Come on, it was probably nothing, best keep walking." He said, squeezing Elze gently.

But after a few more steps rustling was heard by them again, but louder, making it obvious whatever had made the noise was getting nearer.

Merlin spotted a large stick on the ground, but before he could think about sending it into the woods with his thoughts to chase whatever it was away, the stick had already vanished. He peered more closely, wondering if the light had been playing tricks on him, but after a couple of seconds he heard a thump deeper in the woods as supposedly the stick dropped to the floor and something could be heard bounding after it.

He shook it off, realising they were not safe, "Okay, come on, we should really get out of here."

The two of them walked at a brisk pace in silence for the next couple of minutes until they reached the clearing and scaled the grassy bank back up to the kingdom and castle beyond.

As they reached the castle entrance Merlin spotted Arthur and immediately let his arm drop from around Elze, trying not to look shifty.

"And where did you run off to?" Arthur asked.

"I...I went for a walk in the woods." Merlin replied, looking at the Prince.

"I..." he noticed the girl stood beside Merlin and raised his eyebrow, "Ladyservant of Knight Everglade?"

She nodded, "Run along, he was wondering where you had got to."

Elze looked into Merlin's eyes for a second, before Arthur prompted her, "Well, off you go then!"

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and ran off back into Camelot to go and find Everglade. Meanwhile, Merlin was left stood in front of Arthur, not sure where to look.

"Well? Are you going to explain yourself?" Arthur asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Like I said, I went for a walk in the woods." He replied evenly.

"You just happened to go with that girl for a walk? Just a walk?" the Prince raised an eyebrow, looking at Merlin.

"What...I...no! Yes! Yes, just a walk!" he spluttered, looking slightly alarmed.

"Yes, I didn't think you...and..." he shook his head, "Anyway, you shouldn't just head off like that. I needed your advice on something and looked rather a fool when you were nowhere to be seen. The Prince doesn't know where he own manservant is! Anyway, you're back now, you can prepare my armour for tomorrow, make sure my sword is ready, and be there first thing in the morning to tend to me," Arthur looked at him expectantly, "Yes?"

"Oh, right, yes!" Merlin nodded his head quickly, looking like a demented chicken.

"Right, yes, you can go now." Arthur said, giving Merlin a look.

"Right, thanks, sorry, yes." he babbled as he walked back into the streets of Camelot, back towards his bedroom.

As he headed along the stony streets he looked up at the sky. It was a dark navy, the colour of the sea in a raging storm. It was scattered with thousands of tiny stars, and the moon glowed slightly to the right, a full moon. It was beautiful.


	7. Chapter 7

Merlin woke early, luckily, and dressed quickly and silently, tiptoeing out of Gaius' chambers as so not to wake him and walked to Arthur's room, waking him ready for the day of jousting.

Arthur muttered something unintelligible as he woke, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Sir, it's me." Merlin said quietly.

"Ugh? Wha-?" he rubbed his eyes again, squeezing them shut before squinting at the face in front of his own, "Oh, Merlin, right."

He ran his hand through his hair and sat up, swinging his legs out of his bed and walking over to where his clothes had been laid out. He changed into them, Merlin unsure of where to look while the Prince stripped off down to his undergarments and then back into his joust wear. He helped him into his armour plates and chain mail, and handed him his sword, which he slotted into its holder which was attached to his belt.

"Right, I just wanted to talk to you Merlin. I have heard you talking about that girl, the one you were with last night, getting a job here with Gaius. I know that will only be possible if I beat Knight Everglade in the joust, as a kind of token of sorts, or at least that is how he will see it. So I will try my hardest, for you, because of what you have done for me. But, when I do win, you must play along if you wish for her to get a job here, and you must make sure she does the same, do you understand me?" Arthur said, looking at Merlin.

"I...yes, of course. Thank you, thank you so much-"

"Stop gushing, Merlin."

And with that, Arthur headed out of his room and towards where they were holding breakfast, yelling after him, "And Merlin, clean my clothes from yesterday, would you?"

Merlin gathered up the clothes, smiling to himself. He knew that he had received good luck that Arthur had been so nice, but he was more than Merlin could ever imagine as a 'master'. He might have asked a lot of Merlin, but only because he knew Merlin could do it, and in return he was kind, and help him, and Merlin believed he might truly care for him.

He walked back to Gaius' chambers where he was now awake, sorting through his books to look for a cure to a rash that a man had come in with yesterday after he slipped in a patch of nettles.

He greeted Gaius, dumped the clothes on a surface and grabbed a bucket so that he could go and collect water.

On his way he saw Gwen who was similarly fetching water for her father who was the blacksmith.

"Hey, Gwen!" he called, smiling.

"Oh, hello Merlin!"

He graciously let her fill up her bucket before himself, and they made small talk. He asked how her father was doing with the blacksmith business and she asked him how it was working for the Prince. Gwen was one of the people who he would class as a friend in Camelot, and he waved her goodbye as she headed back to her father, smiling to himself.

He filled up his own pail and practically skipped back, humming to himself as he did so. He was in a terribly happy mood today. Gaius picked up on this.

"Someone's happy today. Would this have anything to do with the girl?" he asked, a smile forming on his lips.

"No! No, I mean, maybe, I mean, she's nice, but..." he trailed off, placing the bucket on the floor.

"You mean, you like her Merlin." Gaius said, chuckling.

"No, well, I do, as a friend, because she's nice, she's..." he stopped again, seeing he was getting nowhere with this.

"Merlin, I know the signs of love when I see them." Gaius replied, climbing a ladder to reach the higher books.

Merlin grabbed the pail and the clothes and retreated to his room to avoid any more questioning, sitting down on his bed and thinking the clothes to clean themselves.

He pulled the book from under his mattress as he had not read it in a while and settled down to study a certain spell he had been trying for a while. He muttered the incantation to himself, but however much he tried, the spell would not work. After about an hour of this he gave up, slamming the book down on the floor and sending it under the bed.

"Merlin, are you okay in there?" Gaius asked.

As he entered the room Merlin sent the washing crashing to the floor also, trying and failing to look as innocent as possible.

"Me? I'm fine." He said, pulling an exaggerated face.

Gaius raised his eyebrows but did not say anything, for by now he was used to telling Merlin off for magic and did not even bother anymore. Instead, he asked Merlin to go into the fields and take a cutting of the Euloc plant, for which he needed to make an ointment to make the swelling reduce in the man's rash.

Merlin took with him the book which contained the picture of the plant and walked down to first where he and Arthur regularly practiced sword fighting. He scoured the edge of the grassy land but to no avail, as he could not spot the plant anywhere.

He tried at least three more similar patches of grass with no luck on each, deducing that the man must have received the sting outside the walls of Camelot. As the jousting match was approaching, he dropped the book back at Gaius' chamber as he now had memorised the look of the plant, and headed for the arena, noting in his head to go and look for the antidote plant later.

He stood at the edge of the arena, looking on at the crowd and the knights lined up. He spotted Arthur and smiled reassuringly at him. He either didn't notice or didn't care, as he looked instead left at Morgana and smiled at her, who actually returned the smile.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the knights began their joust, Merlin watched but without much enjoyment. The real fight he was waiting for was Arthur and Everglade, as that would secure the fate of Elze. He wondered where she was and looked around the arena, but could not see a sign of her anywhere. Instead of dwelling on this, he turned his attention back to the fight, watching a man in purple take down a rather scrawnier man in light yellow.

Arthur took on two men in the time that Merlin was watching for, and beat them in both. The two men grumbled to themselves as they took off, unhappy about being beaten.

Merlin eventually got fed up with watching the men poke each other with metal and walked through the streets, looking for something to do or someone to talk to. On his way to Gaius' chambers, he saw Elze suddenly emerge wearing a cloak, the hood up, partially hiding her face.

"Elze..?" he said, walking towards her.

She turned her head away, "What's wrong?"

"I..." she trailed off, and gestured for him to follow her.

He did so and she lead him into a quiet hallway in the castle, away from any men or anybody who might be an onlooker.

She slowly took off her hood and revealed her face which had two large cuts driven into her right cheek. They were red and quite deep, and looked like they had only just stopped bleeding. Merlin pursed his lips and moved closer to her, raising his hand slowly and tentively to her face to take a look.

He studied it for a second before turning to look at her, "What caused this?"

"I...slipped." she said, obviously lying.

"Elze," Merlin sounded serious, looking her in the eye, "Tell me the truth."

"I...Everglade," she muttered, looking down at her feet, "But you mustn't tell anyone, Merlin, for he'll have me executed!"

"But he can't get away with that," Merlin said firmly, but seeing the look on Elze's face, said, "Okay, but we must go to Gaius, he must have a look at it."

"Okay." she agreed quietly, and after readjusting her hood she let Merlin lead her to Gaius' chambers.  
The two of them walked in silence until they reach it, where Merlin swung open the door and luckily Gaius was inside.  
"Gaius." Merlin said.  
The old man strode over and Elze took down her hood again. Gaius studied the fresh, deep cut on her cheek. After a while her turned to her.  
"How did you get this?" he asked quietly.  
"I..." she trailed off, looking down.  
"Everglade." Merlin said.  
Gaius looked surprised.  
"Are you sure?"  
Elze nodded, "Yes."  
"Because this cut was caused by sorcery, of the strong kind."  
Merlin's eye grew wide, "But that means..."  
"That would mean that Everglade was a sorcerer, yes," Gaius finished, and turning to Elze, said, "Do you know anything about this?"  
She nodded slowly, "Yes. He has expressed his powers before, only not so obviously."  
She delicately pulled up the sleeve of her cloak to reveal a deep gash from one side of her arm to the other, just below the crease of her elbow. It looked like any other cut would, apart from the fact it that little tiny vertical lines had formed in the opposite direction, coming off of the deep cut. At closer look, they swirled around slightly, forming almost a pattern coming off of the cut.  
Gaius studied it saying nothing but taking it in and making a mental note  
of what it looked like.  
"I have another." she said quietly.  
"May I...?" Gaius asked in a calm voice.  
Elze took off her cloak and placed it down on the table, and then turned around so that she was facing away from Merlin.  
"Unzip." she said.  
"I...sorry...what?" he stuttered, but Gaius nodded at him.  
Slowly he unzipped the back of her dress and bit the side of his mouth as so not to gasp as the cut was revealed. The scar was at least six inches long, reaching from almost one side of her back to the other. The swirls and spirals coming off of it were a lot more prominent, covering about a quarter of her back.  
"This is not good." Gaius said, turning away from her and starting to look through his books.  
"Figured as much." she laughed, wincing as the action caused her cheek to hurt more.  
"When did you receive each?" Gaius asked.  
"Uh, my cheek, about an hour ago, maybe two. Arm, three weeks ago maybe? And then my back was about two months ago." she said calmly.  
Merlin realised that her desire to stop working for Everglade was a lot deeper than just disliking him for being smarmy. He had been physically hurting her for over two months, but the most chilling thing was how calmly she acted about it.  
He smiled at her and then left through the door, heading towards the arena.  
He strode quickly with meaning, not stopping until he reached where Arthur was standing talking to another knight. He spotted Merlin and said something to the knight, leaving him and heading over to Merlin.  
"Is everything okay?" he asked, prodding him to say more."Yes, I was just..." he stopped, wondering if he should say anything to Arthur or not.Arthur raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer, "Spit it out, then.""You _have_ to beat Everglade. Elze has...she can't go on working for him." Merlin said, trying to contain his anger at what he had seen."I already told you, Merlin, I will try as hard as I can. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to, I usually beat most people, don't I?" he said, a slightly arrogant look on his face."I...thank you." Merlin walked quickly back to Gaius' chambers, unsure of what the point to that had been, as he couldn't express anything to Arthur about what he had seen on Elze, because although it was horrible and Uther hardly ever used physically punishment unless there was a particularly bad crime committed, he knew in other towns punishment of the PHYSICAL kind was used regularly on slaves.He came back in to find Gaius dabbing a liquid from a vial onto Elze's cheek, which already appeared to be turning pink instead of the bright red it had been before."Merlin." Gaius said, and there was a certain sense of urgency in his voice."Yes?" "I have found what has caused this. It is dark magic; some kind of leather or weapon laced with a slow spreading poison. I am ADDING this ointment to try to draw out the poison, but if this does not work then I will have to try something else. But whatever happens, magic has been involved, so magic will have to be involved to undo the actions." He looked pointedly at Merlin."I...right." he said, wondering how they would be able to cure Elze without her knowing that either of them were warlocks."I must go and collect some more of the ingredients used to make the ointment, for I am running low. Would you apply the rest of this to Elze?""Of course." Merlin took the vial from Gaius and poured a drop onto the rag, dabbing it lightly on Elze's cheek. Gaius disappeared through the door, and Merlin could not help his NOSINESS anymore."Why...why did he do this to you?" Merlin asked."I disobeyed his orders." Elze replied quietly, and although Merlin wanted to ask more he got the idea that she didn't want to talk about it, so kept quiet."Turn around, I need to do your back." He said, slowly unzipping her dress again so that he could apply the ointment to the scar on her back.She winced slightly as he DABBED the liquid onto her scar, but made no noise, looking silently around the room at the books and papers. Merlin delicately applied it with the rag, watching it change slightly as he did so. It was no longer red as it had been from a couple of months ago, but was instead raised and puckered. The big change he could see was that the strange pattern around it, even if only by a little, disappeared so that less of her back was filled with it. After he had covered the whole of the scar and used up the entire vial, he placed the cloth on the table and did her dress back up."Thank you Merlin." She said, turning to him and smiling."That's quite alright." He grinned."I really hope Arthur beats Everglade in this joust." She muttered quietly."Me too." Merlin took her hand, squeezing it lightly and looking at her, half smiling.At that point Gaius entered the chambers again, holding an assortment of ingredients in his hands. He laid them down on the table and turned to Elze, "I will concoct a mixture the same. It is called Bayus Leaf Potion, and if you apply it twice a day it should take all of the poison out of the wound. However, the scarring may open up again, so if any of the cuts start to draw blood again, you must come to me and stop using it immediately, do you understand?" Elze nodded, "Yes. Thank you so much, Gaius."She walked up to him and pulled him into an embrace. He hugged her back, patting her fondly but avoiding the area of her scar."It may feel rather tender but that is normal," He told her, "Just return here later for the vial.""I will do." She smiled at him."Right, Merlin, you better head off to, or Arthur will be at me again for taking you away too much." Gaius sighed, stacking up some papers that had fallen to the floor."Of course." he waved goodbye to Gaius and they both reached the door at the same time, Elze taking up her cloak.Merlin held out his arm for her to take, "Shall we?"The two of them headed out to the arena where their masters were, walking slowly through the streets of Camelot.Though Merlin was pretty sure the jousting tournament had only been going on for two days, it was as if he had been in an endless cycle of watching the people joust for weeks. As the knights whittled down, eventually there were only a few left, that including Everglade and Arthur. Merlin decided that he would wait until the fight between the two of them to watch, as it was getting rather tiresome seeing the same thing over and over. Instead, he took to staying near to Elze so that she would never be quite alone with Everglade; so that he could make sure she was okay.The day wore on slowly and eventually Merlin returned to his room to read his book in peace, for he needed a rest from everything and Arthur was busy with entertaining all of the knights, and Gaius was finishing mixing some more of the Bayus Leaf JHYTGR. When he had finished he handed it to Merlin to deliver to Elze, for he wanted to check that she was okay anyway, and this seemed like a reasonable excuse to do so.He walked down the hallway of the castle, looking for the servant chambers where Elze would be staying. He peered his head around each of the rooms but each were empty, until he heard a murmuring coming from the end one. He approached it cautiously, but as he stuck his head around the door he merely saw Elze lying on her bed."I brought this for you." He said, handing her the vial."Thank you so much Merlin." She said, smiling."That's okay." He smiled to himself before leaving, walking back to Gaius' chambers. 


End file.
